The hypocrisy of the Gemeente on sex work and De Wallen
Why sex workers are not to blame for mass tourism in Amsterdam
Halsema and the Gemeente have for plan to decrease sex work in De Wallen by insitilling earlier closing times and opening an erotic centrum in Amsterdam Noord or Zuid. This would be for the following reasons:
• reducing mass tourism in De Wallen and its ‘overlast’ (= ‘nuisance’)
• reducing ‘crime’ in De Wallen
• an extra argument brought up by the Gemeente: to diminish the ‘sex and drug’ image associated with Amsterdam.
The first argument is both highly hypocritical and cheap for the Gemeente. While De Wallen has been used as a location for sex workers since the Middle Ages, it has only recently become an object of curiosity for tourists. In order to reduce mass tourism in Amsterdam, it is essential to look at what brought them in mass to Amsterdam in the first place. There are a few self-made observations:
• Between 2007 and 2011, the low-cost airline EasyJet promoted inexpensive and frequent direct flights between major cities across the United Kingdom and Amsterdam
• The Americanisation of the Kalverstraat and the Nieuwendijk (e.g. the apparition of multiple fast food chains such as McDonalds or random candy stores, or countless fast-fashion companies such as H&M, Zara or Uniqlo), surrounding the Dam, over the last few decades, right next to the Red Light District;
• The rapidly growing and unregulated number of hotels in Amsterdam (the number of which almost doubled between 2007 and 2020)
• The exponential multiplication of tourist transports coming to and within the city e.g. luxury cruises, European bus tours, rental bikes companies, etc.
It would be more interesting for the Gemeente to look at the growth of those sectors directly bringing cheap and easy tourism to Amsterdam, rather than shut down labour sectors, i.e. sex work and horeca, that are highlighted by those tourism companies. Indeed, shutting down Red Light windows and bars in De Wallen will not amount to less tourism will rather bring them to different attractions (which is possible without hurting the workers of De Wallen, I will elaborate on that a little bit later in the essay).
When it comes to their argument around crime, Halsema and the Gemeente failed to provide us with any concrete example of a specific case or what type of crime they would like to get ‘rid’ of. They just associate De Wallen with crime (is business and dirt a crime?) and their new erotic center plan with ‘veiligheid’ (= ‘safety’) without ever getting into details for either side. Listening to both the sex workers and ‘de bewoners’ (= ‘the residents’) of RAI and Noord, there is clearly a concern that moving the sex workers from De Wallen to either of those locations will infact create more crime. Further, it will endanger the sex workers who will not be unable to screen their clients through windows, giving more discretion to perpetrators; and creating a potential hub of criminality for vulnerable youth living in those locations.
In response to their last argument, it would be ridiculous to imply that sex workerss and coffeeshops are the reason Amsterdam has a ‘sex and drug’ profile. Amsterdam is far from being the only city in the Netherlands to have a Red Light District and coffeeshops (look at Maastricht, Groningen, Den Haag, Utrecht, etc.) but those other cities have managed to promote other aspects of their culture and in doing so attract different crowds. I would agree that rather than backtracking on promoting and supporting the fun image of Amsterdam in this way, the Gemeente should start promoting other aspects of Amsterdam e,g, local breweries, markets, historical monuments and tours, etc. It is my personal opinion that this economic push would be much more appreciated by the Amsterdam folk than the mess which is happening right now.
On a final note, I would like to observe that since the proposal, sex workers have constantly expressed their dislike and outward rejection of the suggested project. With a blatant disregard the Gemeente has still taken the decision without considering their opinion or encouraging any form of participation. They are now surprised at the backlash this project is getting. It is unfortunately a very vague, unsupported and rushed plan. Indeed, there remains no concrete plans for either the erotic center or for De Wallen, this project appeared rapidly and out of nowhere to the public eye. It is time for the Gemeente to let the sex workers be, and listen to the people of Amsterdam, as well as the issues they are facing.